Business & Tech

Visions For Vacancy: What Should Take the Place of the Boarded-Up Big Boy?

What would you like to see replace the former Big Boy Restaurant on 21 Mile Road and Van Dyke Avenue?

Welcome to another edition of "Visions for Vacancies," where we visit a local vacant commercial building and ask you what you'd like to see go in that space.

Today, we're taking a look at the former on 21 Mile Road and Van Dyke Avenue in Shelby Township. The restaurant, which occupied the corner for nearly 60 years,.

Big Boy International Restaurants CEO Keith Sirois told Patch the restaurant on Van Dyke, which was one of the longest continually operating Big Boy franchises in history, closed because of a lease expiration issue between the franchise owner and the building’s owner.

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For the past nine months, the former restaurant has remained boarded-up and unoccupied. When Patch drove by last week, the grass had grown long and the weeds tall.

Sirois had told Patch last summer that he "wouldn’t be surprised if that building was razed." However, Big Boy International Restaurants does not own the building.

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What would you like to see in place of the former Big Boy Restaurant on the corner of 21 and Van Dyke? Do you think the building should be torn down all together, or would you like to see another restaurant occupy the empty building?

About this column: In highlighting vacant buildings in Shelby Township and Utica, we aim to help residents take a proactive role in planning and building their community. We'll take your feedback to public officials and property owners, to inform their decisions about future uses. Know of a vacant building we should highlight? Email marina.cracchiolo@patch.com.


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